


Reploid Life I

by Featherhead



Series: Reploid Life [1]
Category: Rockman X | Mega Man X, Rockman | Mega Man - All Media Types
Genre: Language, M/M, Spider has a foul mouth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-18
Updated: 2017-06-18
Packaged: 2018-11-15 19:49:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11237976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Featherhead/pseuds/Featherhead
Summary: 30 Prompt Table Responses





	Reploid Life I

**Author's Note:**

> ((I would like to make a note that much of the characterization for Cedar has been borrowed from the characterizations and headcanons developed by [Socket](http://sockettoem.tumblr.com/). She's developed him into such a wonderful and rich character, you should check her stuff out. :D))

**_01\. Defiant_**  
  
Cedar faced the head of security, expression stony. "You heard me, sir. I quit."  
  
The human sputtered. "You can't quit! This is your function! You were built to be a service droid!"  
  
"I am a _Reploid_. I refuse to be nothing more than a disposable commodity."  
  
"Hey, hey! You walk out that door, and I'll report you as an Irregular and the Hunters'll come after you!"  
  
Cedar was already halfway through the door when he called over his shoulder, "To quote the Reploid who opened my eyes, 'bring it, bitch.'"  
  
_**02\. Powder**_  
  
"We're livin' in a powder keg and givin' off sparks~♪♫"  
  
_"Dynamo, will you stop singing Total Eclipse of the Heart already?! It's three o'clock in the bloody morning!"_  
  
"Oh, did you want to hear Bad Romance instead?"  
  
_**03\. Grateful**_  
  
"Blues? I wanted to thank you for bringing Spider back. I'm not sure you understand how much it means to me-  
  
"Actually, Signas, I do. I do, all too well. But you're welcome. And...thank _you_ for convincing him to give me another chance."  
  
"As long as you don't blow it."  
  
"And risk another ass-kicking from Roll? Hell no."  
  
_**04\. Decent**_  
  
"Why do you keep visiting that shop, Dynamo? I wasn't aware you had an interest in curios."  
  
"I don't. But the old lady bakes the _best_ cookies~...and she's lonely. All her kids are gone, and none of her grandkids have the time to visit."  
  
"...you'd best be careful, or you'll give others the impression you have a shred of decency hidden somewhere under all that aggravating attitude."  
  
"Yeah, we wouldn't want _that_ ~ Might ruin my reputation~"  
  
_**05\. Union**_  
  
Sometimes Cedar wondered why he tolerated Dynamo's infuriating presence, or Spider's equally infuriating snark, a source of constant aggravation that made the sniper seriously consider whether killing one's allies was worth the trouble.  
  
But after they spent three days straight digging him out from the rubble after the building he'd been using as a firing position collapsed, he didn't wonder quite so much.  
  
_**06\. Cleansed**_  
  
Dynamo stood alone in his old uniform at the graveside of his former comrade, gazing contemplatively at the open pit that had yet to be filled in. He'd never really understood the human traditions related to burying their dead. He'd thought it was all a bunch of useless hype, needlessly drawing out the situation, and making things WAY more stressful and painful than they needed to be.  
  
But now, with the death of the last person connected to that phase of his past...he thought he might be starting to understand. Especially since the only pomp Token had allowed with his last wishes was the usual Hunter ceremony honoring their dead.  
  
And Dynamo was surprised to find himself left at loose ends afterward.  
  
"What do I do now, Token?"  
  
He wasn't expecting an answer, didn't believe in all that mystical bullshit about portents and signs. There were no rainbows in the sky, no mysteriously-appearing flowers or whatnot, no angels descending from above with messages of divine love.  
  
Really, if any freaky winged humans came at him, Dynamo would shoot them until they stopped moving before he listened to anything they had to say. Those things were nightmare fuel. Normal humans were scary enough.  
  
Still, when a breeze blew up, sweeping swirls of loose dirt into the open grave, while sparks from the Hunters' bonfire in the distance floated over to smolder in some scraps of paper litter...Dynamo took it. Token knew how Dynamo felt about such things, and he was perverse enough to pull that kind of bullshit anyway.  
  
Dynamo smiled wryly. "All right, you weird mutant. If there really is an afterlife like you humans claim, look the others up, will you? Help Duske keep them in line, until I finally join all of you."  
  
He turned to leave, heading away from the Hunters' bonfire, following the sun as it set.  
  
_**07\. Go**_  
  
Axl blinked and froze as Spider came charging around a corner with a wicked grin. The bounty hunter just avoided running into him with a seemingly impossible flexible twist that would leave the young Hunter gaping later when it finally had time to sink in.  
  
He became aware of a new weight on his head, and Spider shouting at him to run from further down the hall, just as a hat-less Signas rounded the corner with a thunderous expression.  
  
Axl was immediately racing after the laughing bounty hunter, grinning himself as he clutched Signas' hat to his head, while the High Commander bellowed threats after them.  
  
_**08\. Shame**_  
  
Cedar stormed into his quarters, immediately kicking off the torture devices masquerading as shoes as he yanked the earrings from his ears. "I can't _believe_ you talked me into doing that! The dress was bad enough, but dragging me to an _**Irregular Hunter ball**_?!"  
  
Spider just smirked at him, leaning against the doorframe. "Aw, but Ced, you looked damn fine and fierce in the dress~" He ducked a thrown shoe with a grin. "Oh, c'mon. Sig invited me and said I could bring a friend. I'd never be able to get D within a hundred miles of Hunter dress uniforms, so it had to be you. Besides, you can't tell me you didn't enjoy it. I saw you blushin' when Zero started flirtin' with you."  
  
" _He GOOSED me!_ "  
  
"And you punched him for it. You got a mean right hook, too. Gave him quite the nice shiner for the next few days~ Remind me never to- hey, hey! Watch the dress, will ya?! Do you know how much it cost to have it altered?!"  
  
"You- this- _what_ \- _**RAUGH!**_ "  
  
_**09\. Objective**_  
  
" _Spider_. Stop. Killing. The. Damn. Paladins!"  
  
"Sig, did you even _read_ the quest I was given? I'm _supposed_ to fuckin' kill them this time!"  
  
_**10\. Strength**_  
  
Cedar remembers well his first meetings with Dynamo. The mercenary had constantly dropped by the business firm where Cedar worked security, pestering him with meaningless chatter and teasing, or occasionally showing off his skills with a beam saber. Cedar had pretended annoyance, that he wasn't secretly impressed and flattered. But he'd grown to anticipate the meetings, either because Dynamo would give him a new book to read- he still had that first prized book- or because he brought news of Cedar's factory-line siblings.  
  
Cedar has never asked how Dynamo found out about them, or how he'd tracked them down. But he'd been grateful.  
  
Even when Dynamo started bringing news of their deaths at the hands of humans.  
  
It was Dynamo who started him thinking, opened his eyes to what current society was.  
  
And it was Dynamo who gave him the strength to finally leave his human-mandated function in it, and to create his own.  
  
_**11\. Life**_  
  
On July 2, 2144, the sun finally broke completely through the cloud cover, four years after Eurasia's crash, and it slowly rose above the horizon.  
  
Dynamo stood on a low ridge, watching the activity below as Reploids- Hunter, civilian, and Irregular alike- celebrated its return with raucous, ragged cheers. He smiled faintly, then lifted his gaze to the sunrise, watching the glowing disk crest the distant mountains, flooding the landscape with light and finally returning life to the suffering planet.  
  
Quietly, he began to sing.  
  
" _Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me..._ "  
  
_**12\. Contempt**_  
  
"Mr. Dynamo, if you cause one more outburst, I will find you in contempt!"  
  
"How is the audience cheering _my_ fault, Your Honor?"  
  
"You incited them with your speech about fighting injustice and paraphrased the song Beer For My Horses!"  
  
"Well, you gotta admit, it _was_ kind of apt, considering..."  
  
_**13\. Wrong**_  
  
"You _do_ know," X murmured, watching the rookies bump into each other like a row of dominoes, "that there's a couple steps between 'forward march' and 'halt', right? They're called 'half-step march' and 'mark time march'."  
  
Beside him, Zero grinned unrepentantly. "I know. But you've gotta admit, it's funny as hell watching them do that."  
  
"That is so wrong...but you're right."  
  
_**14\. Sweeten**_  
  
Cedar aimed a narrow-eyed glare at Spider. "I told you, I am _not_ doing any more 'favors' for you after the dress thing!"  
  
"Aw, c'mon! Tell you what, you do this for me, and I'll do anything you want afterward."  
  
Cedar paused, calculating. "... _anything_?"  
  
"Except wear a dress~"  
  
The sniper frowned, eyeing the bounty hunter. "Likely a good thing. You wouldn't look good in a dress at all."  
  
Spider blinked, expression shifting from surprise to insulted indignation. "I would, too!"  
  
"I doubt that," Cedar replied, turning away with a dismissive shrug.  
  
"Fine, I'll prove it!"  
  
Cedar listened as the bounty hunter's stomping footsteps retreated, and he grinned. He couldn't wait for the moment realization dawned~  
  
_**15\. Hands**_  
  
Spider has an aversion to being grabbed now. His nightmares are filled with hands grabbing frantically at him, and searing heat that never fades.  
  
The first time he had it, he nearly punched Signas when the Hunter gripped his shoulder. Only hearing the familiar voice had made his fist deviate at the last second, saving them from an embarrassing explanation to Lifesaver.  
  
Signas hadn't questioned the bounty hunter about it at the time, but he is more careful about grabbing Spider now.  
  
_**16\. Strangle**_  
  
"Dynamo, if you do not cease stroking my hair and calling it your precious, I will strangle you with _your_ hair."  
  
_**17\. Lullaby**_  
  
Spider wakes in his old room to the sound of his creator singing quietly by his bedside, a familiar lullaby he hasn't heard since his first days. He lays there a moment, just listening, and the decades of hurt and hateful words stretching between them finally start loosening their hold, allowing him finally start thinking of _Home_.  
  
He can hear Blues' smile in his voice as his own joins his creator's on the refrain, and when the song ends, neither speaks. But they both know it's a start.  
  
_**18\. Untouchable**_  
  
Axl can feel the memories, lurking just beneath the surface, every time he's with Spider and Dynamo. But whenever he tries to grasp them, tries to drag them into view, they slip beyond his reach. He _knows_ Spider and Dynamo are familiar, that he has to have met them before encountering Spider in Gigantis, running into Dynamo fleeing Lifesaver's wrath at the Hunter base. But he doesn't know _why_. They keep dropping hints, too, tantalizing breadcrumbs in a trail he can't quite see clearly, that they know him as well.  
  
It's only a matter of time, he tells himself. Sooner or later, one of them will drop the one hint he needs, the clue to tie everything together and finally unravel the mystery of his past.  
  
_**19\. Whispered**_  
  
Signas is always amused by Spider's constant flow of curses and expletives. From the moment the bounty hunter awakens, to the moment he falls asleep, there is rarely a moment he doesn't have a curse on his lips that ranges from the irreverent and utterly ridiculous, to the deadly earnest before he strikes to kill. He curses in greeting, he swears in farewell. He uses insults as a form of affection, uses slurs as a game. And put-downs?  
  
Oh, how Spider dearly loves 'Yo mama' fights.  
  
More than once, Signas has come across Spider going head-to-head with Zero in competitions to see who has the most extensive repertoire of foul language. Spider only loses because he has a mere thirty-seven years to Zero's almost a century. But Spider is improving, and he always has something new he's added for the next time he challenges the blonde Hunter.  
  
Signas has grown used to the bounty hunter's foul language, has even grown fond of it.  
  
But his most favorite of Spider's curses are those ones that fall with whispered reverence from the bounty hunter's mouth in the darkness of Signas' quarters.  
  
_**20\. Prayers**_  
  
Reploids are not a particularly religious race, being the children of science and technology. They don't offer obeisance to any higher authority or divine being; and the things that receive their veneration are technology, the first self-thinking robots, and those first scientists who created those robots.  
  
And yet every time one of the Reploids Signas has come to consider family goes out on a mission, he finds himself at his office window, whispering invocations of protection for them to come back alive and safe.  
  
_**21\. Obvious**_  
  
Spider sighed softly at the sound of another twig cracking behind them. "Should we let him know we're on to him?" he murmured.  
  
Dynamo grinned at the barely audible muttered "ow" from somewhere in the bushes. "Now where's the fun in that?" he murmured back.  
  
The bounty hunter rolled his eyes, and started counting down on his fingers.  
  
_3..._  
  
_2..._  
  
_1..._  
  
The two Reploids ducked as one, and Axl sailed over their heads.  
  
"And Spiky Noot Airlines comes in for a landing~"  
  
"We shoulda cleared the runway first."  
  
"Sh-shut up!"  
  
_**22\. Rhythm**_  
  
Signas wasn't normally a fan of this kind of music, too peppy and pop-y for his tastes. But as he watched Spider, Dynamo, and Axl dancing in the courtyard below while the music blared against the surrounding buildings, he couldn't help tapping his fingers on the windowsill to the beat.  
  
_**23\. Afterlife**_  
  
"Axl...kid...you keep askin' me if there's an afterlife, and I'll help you find out for yourself. Why don't you go ask Zero? He's died more times than I have."  
  
"Are you nuts? He'd kill me faster than you w- hey, whoa _whoa **whoa**_ , I was _kidding_ , you put your cards away!"  
  
_**24\. Hidden**_  
  
"Spider, your family is terrifying."  
  
"No, my _godfather's_ terrifyin'. The rest are just a bunch of derps."  
  
"Pharaohman? How is he terrifying? He seems so pleasant."  
  
"Ced...you remember that thing with Redips? If the bastard had survived, Pharaoh would've hunted him down, skinned him alive, vivisected him, and put his still-livin' head on a pole for the rest of eternity. You don't fuck with those Pharaoh considers family. He's my hero~"  
  
"...and now _you're_ terrifying."  
  
_**25\. Parade**_  
  
"...why are Dynamo, Axl, Zero, and Douglas parading through the base singing Macho Man?"  
  
"I have no idea, sir. Annnd there goes Lifesaver."  
  
"..."  
  
"...wait, Signas, where are you- you're _joining_ them?!"  
  
_**26\. Touch**_  
  
"No, Zero. Just because you've died more times than anyone else, that does not make you Optimus Prime, _will you stop singing You've Got the Touch you can't sing dammit_."  
  
_**27\. Free**_  
  
"So, how do you like your first day as a free Reploid?"  
  
Cedar turned at Dynamo's voice, watching the mercenary join him, before turning back to watching the humans from his old job scurry about in a frenzy after his departure. Humans, he was realizing, had one major flaw- they never looked _up_ for their quarry, apparently assuming that Reploids, being metallic beings, weren't able to reach roofs with no access points without a teleporter.  
  
"It is...somewhat frightening."  
  
"I know what you mean." Dynamo propped a foot on the raised roof edge, leaning an arm against his raised knee as he watched the humans. "Give 'em a couple more minutes, and they'll flood back into the garage to see if you're hiding there."  
  
"Do you really think they-...bloody hell. How do you _do_ that?"  
  
"You'll learn. Here." Dynamo straightened up and turned, dangling an item on a chain until Cedar took it.  
  
Cedar blinked in bemusement at the silver pendant, deceptively tiny for what he knew such things could contain. Flicking the clasp, he carefully opened the pendant, and he could only stare at the holographic images of his factory-line siblings that rose to float in the air in front of him.  
  
Closing the pendant, he moved to fasten the chain around his neck, grateful when Dynamo lifted his hair to help.  
  
"What happens now?"  
  
"Well you've got your pick of choices. You could join the Hunters, you could find another job, you could bug the First, you could join us..."  
  
"You mean...become a mercenary?"  
  
"Yeah. Help try to change the world and all that. Take whatever missions you want. Learn whatever you want. _Be_ whatever you want."  
  
"I...I think I'd like that."  
  
Dynamo grinned at him. "Let's go then."  
  
_**28\. Enjoy**_  
  
Cedar heard the music first as he stepped off the elevator onto the floor Spider's condo was on, an electric guitar making a loud, bold statement, while a violin danced around it in a wild harmony. Bemused, he stared at the condo's door a moment, before opening it, stepping through the foyer so he could peer into the living room.  
  
He saw Dynamo with the guitar, grinning ferally as he swung the instrument around in a dance seemingly powered by the music. And Spider was matching him step for step, note for note, with his electric violin, a dark, pleased smirk on his face.  
  
Cedar could only stare, watching the brothers circle each other as they played, spinning and twisting and weaving complicated patterns around the star-speckled floor, neon lighting throwing purplish-blue bands across the two Reploids.  
  
For a brief moment, the sniper wondered if he should leave them alone, feeling almost like an intruder.  
  
Then they spotted him at the same time, both winking at him as they continued their musical duel, and the feeling passed.  
  
He edged around their battleground, until he reached the enormous couch, settling on the cushions. His eyes fell on the low table in front of him, and he saw three glasses there- one filled with one of Dynamo's ridiculous pornographically-named cocktails, one was the glass Spider used only for his most expensive liquors, and one was filled with Cedar's favorite wine.  
  
Realization made him smile, and he picked up his glass, settling back to watch his friends have fun.  
  
_**29\. Shining**_  
  
Dynamo would never admit to anyone why he always sat on the mercenary base's roof to watch for Cedar's return from various nighttime missions. Least of all to Cedar himself.  
  
Sitting in the darkness, he'd watch and wait, until he finally spots Cedar making his way slowly down the path to the base, the sun just peeking over the horizon illuminating the sniper's form.  
  
It always reminded him of that first shaft of light when dawn finally broke after Eurasia's fall.  
  
_**30\. Overflow**_  
  
"Hey, Spider, I think your balcony's got a design flaw or something. It's collecting water. You might wanna call maintenance about that before it overflows and ruins all your fancy shit."  
  
"...that's not a design flaw, D. Did you seriously not know my balcony's actually a fuckin' pool?"  
  
"It... _what_?! How in Doctor Light's porn did you get rich enough to afford that?!"  
  
"I didn't. I just got a buildin' permit and made it myself after I first moved in. Cheaper that way. Plus a lot of my neighbors liked what I did so much, they hired me to do the same for their condos~"  
  
"...can we go swimming?!"  
  
"Not in those clothes. Get a damn swimsuit on first."  
  
" _Awesome_! I'll be right back with Cedar, too!"


End file.
